Content:
According to the written sources, in 853, castle Apulia was attacked by the vikings. It was connected with the hillfort of Apuolė in 1887. Today, the entire Apuolė archeological complex (Western Lithuania) is known, consisting of at least six parts: the hillfort, cemetery, foot settlement, sanctuary, forecourt, and individual homesteads. The complex has been excavated two times by seven different researchers, and surveyed eight times. The focus was always on the hillfort. It was excavated in 1928–1932 and 2018–2019. A total of 1,855 m2 has been excavated within the complex, including 1,609 m2 of the hillfort. A significant part of the pre-war research material was collected and sorted in 1992 and published in 2009. In the past 30 years, drafts of plans and a film have been found in museums and archives. New excavations were carried out aiming to study the environment of the hillfort and to adapt the site for visitation. During this period, a separate discipline of archeology, known as archival archeology, emerged and developed its methods. All this enables us to re-evaluate our knowledge of Apuolė.
The ultimate goal of such assessment is a new level of understanding of the Apuolė complex without the use of destructive research methods (such as excavations). This should be done through an analysis of all known research material in the form of a separate study (preferably, a publication). The main principles of such work are a full publication of the available primary sources with appropriate comments, as well as a spatial - chronological analysis of all known material using the achievements of modern archeology. In the case of Apuolė, the objective of archival archaeology would be to record all research material, which, unfortunately, could not be performed by the author of this paper.
Keywords:
hillfort, archival archeology, excavations, archives